Why You Aren’t Growing on Social Media

You’re sitting in front of your phone after posting on Instagram what you think is the best photo you’ve ever taken. Then after about two hours of waiting for the likes to go up on social media, your spirits have gone down.

Don’t worry it’s not your fault, you just don’t know how to properly work the platform – yet.

All digital creators experience the frustration of having to market themselves online. But what a sweet relief getting those likes to pour in or recieve features on pages with over 100k.

Having an online presence is essential these days for any artist trying to take themselves seriously. Unfortunately no one is sharing the secrets – until now. Here’s are the top reasons you aren’t growing on social media:

You don’t have a niche

Determining your niche is crucial when it comes to growing your audience. You have a passion and you want to share it, so decide on what it is that you want to convey through your page, and stay with it. No worries it will evolve over time.

If your page contains your personal photography, pictures of your puppy, food photos, and memes all in one, it is not likely to retain a consistent audience. If you want people to correlate you art online to your style you need to be putting out something consistent in terms of style.

The theme that you create and stick with will attract attention. Each photo should be consistent with the theme. Posting pictures that are visually similar in color tones and style will keep that reoccurring audience.

Theme isn’t the end all be all though. Some people retain a theme through the subjects in their photos. If you follow Selena Gomez for her spirited smile and sultry selfies and she posts a teaser of “13 Reason Why” Season 2 you’re going to be a little confused (at least we were.) Staying on brand is a must. Keep your content on the same topic so your followers know what to expect from you.

You haven’t built a community

Be sure to connect with others on social media that are similar to you so that you build a community – we call this creating an engagement strategy. Sit down and write down your top ten similar accounts and top ten crush accounts. Then engage with not only them but their followers and more often their commentators. Spend about 30 mins – 1 hour everyday doing this. Having connections online will assist you in thriving your online presence.

Utilize all platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to cross promote your page to all communities on social media. Make an authentic community. Keep your intentions genuine.

You haven’t catered towards your audience

Your community of followers are like-minded people with similar passions to you, so make sure you know their patterns. Us humans are creatures of habits, going to our favorite coffee shops and fighting for the spot in the corner booth. You have to find those same pockets of people online. Trust me, they exist.

Don’t attempt to attract followers who are not in your niche. Those followers are likely to not be engaged in your content long term. Feed off the support of your audience. Your followers will love when you acknowledge them, and give them feedback. Be personable and convey your real self on social media platforms.

You’re posting at the wrong time

While this doesn’t have a ton of weight inside of the Instagram platform anymore it definitely still can affect who you’re seen by and when (if ever).

You just woke up and your scrolling through the twitter feed for fresh news. You run to your bathroom and after you finish your morning duty you decide to brush your teeth and grab a glass of OJ. Too bad you forget how awful the taste of citric acid is combined with the flavor of Crest minty fresh is. Immediately the need to tweet is born. And wala the most fire tweet ever written about the birth of a vial tasting mouth baby because of OJ and toothpaste. You chuckle a little bit to yourself and realize, “should I post this now or later?” The time is 9:08 AM.

Well according to AdEspresso by Hootsuite “the type of engagement is not the same for morning and evening: The majority of clicks on in-post links (such as to your latest blog post) happen in the morning. In the evening, Twitter users are more likely to engage by liking or retweeting your post.” (Read more here: https://adespresso.com/blog/best-time-to-tweet/)

So maybe if you add in a link to the science behind why OJ and mint taste bad together you’d have a poppin tweet!

That my friends is called knowing the right time to post online.

Aside from posting at the right time, be sure to post frequently, use hashtags, share location, network with other users. Know that the most common way that your posts will be seen is based off of engagement and being featured on popular pages. There are other ways to boost your profile but we like to talk about the free forms first. Then when you are ready we will introduce you to ”Growing on Social Media 2.0”

You are sacrificing your authenticity for Numbers

Don’t be creating just for the followers or for the praise, but do it for you. You want to show your genuine self, because that’s what your followers want to see after all right? Being in the right headspace and doing what you love comes first above all.